2024 Sunburst Awards: Toronto Blue Jays games 46-48

Rays advance to 25-23 after three game series at the Rogers Centre

“Sunburst Awards” is a series-by-series evaluation of player performance, where four different awards are given out after each series: Offensive player of the series, defensive player of the series, pitcher of the series, and highlight play of the series. This edition will be covering the 15th series of the season, where the Tampa Bay Rays took on the Toronto Blue Jays from May 17 through May 19, a three game series at the Rogers Centre.

The Rays continue their stretch of AL East opponents with a three game series up north against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Game 1: Blue Jays - 3 Rays - 4 (recap)

Game 2: Blue Jays - 4 Rays - 5 (recap)

Game 3: Blue Jays - 5 Rays - 2 (recap)

Offensive Sunburst Award: Yandy Diaz

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Diaz earns his second Offensive award this month with two marquee performances in the first two games of this series, with five hits, three walks, a run and an RBI.

Diaz’s consistency at the plate helped spark runs by the Rays to produce offensively in the first two games of the series. While he didn’t perform particularly well in game three, it seemed to follow the entire team.

Diaz now leads the Rays in offensive Sunbursts, becoming the first on the club to win his third in this category.

Pitching Sunburst Award: Tyler Alexander

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Alexander had a historic day on the mound in game one of this series, pitching 7 ¹⁄₃ perfect innings for the longest perfect performance in MLB this season.

The 22 consecutive outs also was the second most in Rays history behind Drew Rasmussen’s eight innings in 2022. Alexander also notched four strikeouts to go with the phenomenal start.

Defensive Sunburst Award: Yandy Diaz

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Diaz wins his first Defensive nod with a multitude of impressive plays at first this weekend. His performances on the field win him over because of not only the impressive displays of athleticism, but also the clutch timing of said plays.

An example would be an impressive catch and stretch out to keep Alexander’s perfect game bid alive.

The defending AL Batting Champion coupled that clutch performance with impressive displays of athleticism such as this diving line out in game three.

Highlight Sunburst Award: Jonny DeLuca

Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

How about DeLuca? The newcomer just keeps impressing and winning over fans, this time with a go-ahead home run in the top of the eighth in game two to give the Rays the lead in an eventual comeback win.

The Rays started this game down 4-0 before a run in the top of the sixth put the Rays within one run. The home run from DeLuca gave the Rays a lead they would never give back and fired up the dugout.

Conclusion

The Rays concluded their road trip with yet another series win, having now won four of their last five series. They head home now for a nine game homestand starting with a three game affair against the Red Sox. First pitch on Monday is set for 6:50 PM.